Cranial remodeling is utilized to correct for deformities in the head shapes of infants. Prior to the development of the Dynamic Orthotic CranioplastySM method of cranial remodeling by Cranial Technologies, Inc, the assignee of the present invention, the only viable approach for correction of cranial deformities was surgical correction of the shape of the cranium. Dynamic Orthotic CranioplastySM utilizes a treatment program in which a cranial remodeling band is custom produced for each infant to be treated. The band has an internal shape that produces the desired shape of the infant's cranium.
In the past, the cranial remodeling band was produced by first obtaining a full size and accurate model of the infants actual head shape. This first model or shape was then modified to produce a second or desired head shape. The second or desired head shape is used to form the cranial remodeling band for the infant. The first shape was originally produced as a cast of the infant's head. The second shape was similarly produced as a cast of the head. In the past the second or desired shape was obtained by manually modifying the first shape to form the desired shape.
Various arrangements have been considered in the past to automate the process of producing cranial remodeling devices. In some of the prior arrangements a scanner is utilized to obtain three dimensional data of an infant's head. Such arrangements have the disadvantage in that scanners cannot obtain instantaneous capture of data of the entirety of an infant's head. In addition, it is proposed to utilize expert systems to operate on scanned data to produce an image of a modified head shape from which a cranial remodeling device may be fabricated. However, because each head shape is unique, even the use of an expert system may not present an optimized solution to developing modified shapes suitable for producing a cranial remodeling device.